


The World is Spinning (But You're Holding Me Steady)

by bastanubis29



Series: Six Degrees of Separation [4]
Category: SEVENTEEN (Band)
Genre: Coffee, Fluff, I Will Go Down With This Ship, Jeonghan wants Minghao to get laid, M/M, Minghao has a little bit of social anxiety, Seungcheol's mom-van, angst if you squint, blind dates, but no good outlet, mingyu is a good friend, tagging as I write, thank you teen.age for leaving me with all this inspo, the fact that this ship has so little fanfic is terrible, this fic highkey took months, wake up cafe, yay another part to the gay coffeeshop AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-03
Updated: 2018-01-03
Packaged: 2019-02-27 13:28:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,018
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13249188
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bastanubis29/pseuds/bastanubis29
Summary: Minghao really doesn't know how to ask out cute guys, especially when it appears that said cute guy is taken.But Seungcheol really comes through.And Minghao isn't stressed out for once.





	The World is Spinning (But You're Holding Me Steady)

Minghao is comfortable being a background character. He’d rather be the classic ‘quiet best friend’ and let Mingyu or Jeonghan take the lead.  
He’s not good with people in general, which makes it easier to sink into the background and disappear.

  
It makes his choice of major seem strange to most people, for reasons other than Dance Education being an option. But, Minghao’s good with kids. He’s good with kids and he loves dancing, so picking a major was actually the least stressful thing he did in his senior year of high school.

Despite not being good with people, Minghao’s got a pretty good group of friends: his co-workers from the Wake Up Cafe, and the members of his dance team (“because, Hao-hao, you need some sort of activity to get you out of the dorm,” Mingyu tells him, and he really doesn’t understand why, but Mingyu’s the closest thing to a best friend he has, so he tries not to piss the older boy off.).

And even though Jeonghan made it seem as though Minghao had never been on a date before, he had. However, he’d argue that social anxiety was a real and serious thing and that honestly, they shouldn’t try to push him that much when he already struggled to take orders at work.

(The first time he successfully worked the register for an entire shift, Mingyu and Seungkwan threw him a party in the backroom. Jeonghan denies that he acted like a proud mom that day, and Jihoon swears that he wasn’t crying, he just had something in his eye dammit.)

Minghao’s trying and honestly, that’s what’s important. Unfortunately, Minghao’s definition of trying and Jeonghan’s are vastly different. Which means that one shift of working the register turns into two shifts, then every other shift, and so on until Mingyu has to pry the whiteboard marker out of Jeonghan’s hand and erase half of the shifts that Minghao was scheduled for.

“Jeonghan,” he sighs, “baby steps.”

The only time that Minghao feels like he could maybe, maybe, be the main character is when he’s dancing. That’s the only time he feels completely attuned to himself; focusing on no one else in the room. Dancing makes it easy for him to let go of the anxiety because his body says everything that he can’t convey in words.

But outside of that, he’s comfortable with being in the background, with being the person that most people didn’t notice when they entered a room.

The only time he wishes that he was a little more confident was when confronted with the problem he was now. There is a cute guy standing in the lobby of the studio, tapping at his phone and altogether acting like every hot-college-guy stereotype that Minghao has ever seen at his movie nights with Mingyu.

(Jeonghan always told him that cute college guys would be his silent downfall, but Minghao hadn’t believed him until this moment.)

So, instead of doing exactly what Jeonghan or Mingyu would have been able to do in an instant, Minghao continues to stand and stare.

And when Jun, Minghao’s groupmate and kind-of friend leaves, and throws his arm around hot-college-guy, Minghao is honestly not very surprised. He’s more resigned to the fact that he will never be Jun, and that even if he got really lucky, the guy on his arm would never be someone like hot-college-guy.

He can live with that. He’s gotten used to living with that.

* * *

  
When he heads to work later, blue apron on and the standard pink hat pulled low over his eyes, Jeonghan immediately can tell that something is wrong.

“Minghao,” he says gently, and Minghao gets as close to snapping as he ever does.

“You were right,” he replies quietly, eyes burning with a silent fire.

“I’m right about a lot of things,” Jeonghan answers, “what exactly am I right about this time?”

Minghao’s head drops to the counter, and he mutters, “cute college guys are my downfall.”

Jeonghan nods solemnly and sits on the counter next to Minghao’s head. “Mine as well.”

“How do you deal with it?” Minghao asks, voice clear and innocent.

“I go on dates, or, at least, I did before I met Seungcheol. That’s really the only way to handle it.”

“But I’m not like you; I can’t do that.”

“Seungcheol has a friend…”

Minghao can see that this isn’t going to go the way he wants it to, that Jeonghan’s about to rope him into something that is more than potentially bad, that is potentially catastrophic.

“Why do I feel like you’re not going to take no for an answer?”

“So, Seungcheol has a friend, who has a friend that needs a boyfriend. He’s cute, from a completely taken, not-looking-for-a-man standpoint. We’re gonna set you two up on a date.”

* * *

  
Minghao has seen hot-college-guy four times in the last week, each time picking Jun up again and again, and at this point Minghao just expects the two to be together whenever he sees one of them.

Jeonghan had been overly pushy about the blind date that he had set Minghao up on, and Minghao is honestly ready to just get the inevitable panic attack over with. And that is why on Friday night he is actually getting ready for his first - and last - blind date.

Mingyu and Seungkwan had come over to his dorm to help him get ready, a mess of clothes now covered the floor on his side of the small room.

When Seungcheol arrives to drive Minghao to the restaurant, Minghao is too busy freaking out both internally and externally to pay attention to where they're going.

He’s surprised and kind of glad to see that they’ve arrived at the Wake Up Cafe’s sister location on the other side of campus, familiar pink and blue lights shining brightly into the street and reflecting off of the shop window that Seungcheol just parked his car in front of.

“Ready?” He asks Minghao, whose eyes have widened imperceptibly and is rocking gently back and forth in the passenger seat, having the first wave of his internal panic.

(Now, it’s important to mention that Minghao barely Jeonghan is absolutely head over heels for the older male, so his getting into the car with Seungcheol was already a bit of an adventure for Minghao.)

Minghao shakes his head so quickly that Seungcheol isn’t sure that he saw Minghao move at all.

“Minghao,” he says, turning the engine off completely. “Jeonghan told me that you’d probably do this right before you went inside. That’s why he and Mingyu are already in there, pretending to be on a date.”

“They are?” Minghao’s voice is small, and when he peeks over at Seungcheol, his bangs slide into his eyes.

“They are. Mingyu knew you’d need the moral support, and Jeonghan just wants to see you succeed. Now, are you ready to go in?”

Minghao takes a shaky breath to calm himself, and nods, opening the car door and exiting Seungcheol’s van.

* * *

  
Normally, Minghao is on the other side of the counter when he goes to a cafe, and sitting at a table is new for him. (Have the seats always been this uncomfortable?)

His date is late. Really late, and Minghao is a little bit worried that he’s not going to show. He’s made eye contact with both Mingyu and Jeonghan at least twice, and their concerned looks at each other weren’t making him feel any better.

And just as Minghao gets up to leave, hot-college-guy walks in, the bell on the door dinging as he pushes it open.

Minghao is waiting, expectant, for Jun to walk in behind him. Expectant for the inevitable “what are you doing here? Don’t you live on the other side of campus?” and definitely not looking forward to having to tell his seemingly cooler classmate that he had been stood up by someone he had never met.

But hot-college-guy lets the door swing shut behind him, and Minghao, not for the first time tonight, is confused.

Excessive fake coughing from the direction of Mingyu and Jeonghan causes Minghao to turn around, and Jeonghan not-so-subtly points in hot-college-guy’s direction.

Minghao shakes his head and frowns, unbelieving that this is the guy he’s been waiting for.

He walks up to Minghao’s table, seeing as how Minghao is the only person currently sitting alone, and smiles. And Minghao, Minghao is floored by how good it feels to have that smile trained on him for once.

“Minghao?” Hot-college-guy asks, and Minghao nods, praying to any deity that is listening that he doesn’t do anything embarrassing. “I’m Hansol.”

Minghao really wishes that he had the power to sink into the floor, because honestly? Hansol’s voice is even prettier than he is, and Minghao is drowning in his inability to handle it.

“Sorry I’m late,” Hansol continues, seemingly unfazed by Minghao’s lack of verbal response. “I got the two cafes mixed up, and only realized that Seungcheol had said the East Wake Up Cafe when I was halfway to the West Wake Up Cafe.”

Minghao nods, and Hansol seems satisfied in his non-answer.

“You want to go order? I’ll pay since you went through all the trouble of waiting here for me.”

Minghao knows that he should fight Hansol’s offer, but can’t find his voice in time before Hansol is guiding him toward the counter.

Minghao recognizes the smile on the cashier’s face; he’s seen it enough on his own to know that it’s the universal retail code for a long day.

“Hi, I’m Seokmin. What can I get for you today?”

Minghao orders a small cup of black coffee, even though he really doesn’t need the caffeine to keep him up, and Hansol orders a ridiculously elaborate iced drink that makes Minghao cringe. He wants to apologize to the cashier because he knows how much it sucks to have to make those drinks, but he’s on a date with quite possibly the cutest guy ever, and he doesn’t want to screw it up.

After they get their drinks, the two return to the table and sit down, sipping their beverages in silence until Minghao gathers enough of his voice (and his courage) to ask, “So, what are you studying?”

Hansol launches into a passionate description of his classes that eventually boils down to the fact that he hasn’t been able to pick a major because he likes too many subjects.

He asks Minghao the same question, and Minghao balks for a moment, unsure how to explain Dance Education as a major.

“I’m a dancer,” he starts with, “and I like kids, so I figured that teaching dance classes would be good for me.”

And Hansol is fascinated and asks more until Minghao’s coffee (and anxiety) is forgotten.

(No one since Mingyu has been able to make him feel this comfortable, and even that took months. Hansol seems bent on breaking some records.)

Eventually, Minghao becomes comfortable enough that he tells Hansol off for ordering that ridiculous drink (“Do you know how stressful it is to see that many additions to the bill? It’s not worth what they pay me!”), which sparks a conversation about their jobs, that morphs into talk about their families, that turns into Hansol offering to walk Minghao home.

(Minghao didn’t notice Mingyu and Jeonghan slipping away when he and Hansol started talking about their families.)

Maybe Hansol kissed Minghao on the steps of his dorm building, but Minghao will never kiss and tell. (Hansol did, and Minghao smiled for the rest of the night.)

* * *

  
Minghao’s okay with being a background character. He’s okay with being the ‘quiet best friend’ in a supporting role.

He’s also becoming okay with being the main character, especially when a certain cute college boy walks into his work and persuades him to take a break.

(For once, he’s acting like the couples he and Mingyu had previously laughed at. And he’s okay with it.)

(And he and Hansol don’t make out in the alley, thank you very much. They make out in the back room. Minghao has some standards.)

**Author's Note:**

> This is the end of this series, for now. Until I a. get some motivation or b. start shipping another Seventeen pairing.  
> Hit me up on [twitter](https://twitter.com/bastanubis29?lang=en).


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